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TV review: The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald provided a good snapshot of New Orleans life, but failed to get down in the dust and roll around.

Trevor McDonald meets New Orleans brass band The Hot 8 in The Mighty Mississippi (Picture: ITV)

New Orleans is a city with a big heart, a city gripped with an infectious madness that celebrates life and commemorates life lost, and as such is a difficult place to immerse the viewer in an ITV whizz-around series.

This latest effort faltered initially, with an opening segment based around old money and debutante balls that felt like a false start, but as we moved into the city’s exuberant French Quarter and out into the ‘tired resignation’ of the 9th ward – a poorer area ripped apart in every sense by Hurricane Katrina – a truer picture of New Orleans began to be sketched out.

In a city that vibrates, Trevor McDonald at times feels a bit of a static presence as our guide, walking stiffly through the streets in a suit as Louisiana eddies around him, and though he approaches interviewees unarmed and humble you feel desperate to see him undo that top button and hit a dive bar until the wee hours.

The Mississippi has proved to be both beautiful and destructive (Picture: ITV)

The sights and sounds on offer here were undeniably gorgeous, however touristy the framework though, as we visited the hanging haze of the Atchafalaya swamp and the melancholy beauty of plantation land in Northern Louisiana and into Mississippi.

Trevor McDonald joins Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in the list of celebrities all making visits to the Southern states for UK documentaries over the last couple of years and while none have managed to truly grab hold of their gritty beauty, it is nice to see more obvious American destinations pushed aside in an effort to do so.